Headliners,
flatliners play the Galaxy
By
Daniel Linck Savino
Daily Forty-Niner
Staff Writer
Last Friday the Galaxy Theater brought Shonen Knife to Santa Ana all the way
from Osaka, Japan. Unfortunately, the pop-rock trio left their talent on the
other side of the Pacific.
The entire evening was a flaming heap of mediocre rock music extending from
just before 7 p.m. to nearly midnight. One of the opening bands is a perfect
example of the 4/4 Orange County rock played by the first three openers.
Case in point: Geisha Girls. The band’s name might lead you to believe
their membership consists of highly made-up Japanese women, with one of them
playing a koto. The truth is quite the opposite.
On their MySpace page, they describe themselves as “a three peice [sic]
punk rock band from California.” The all-male band would drive any diehard
punk rock fan to tears. I refuse to call them posers, but anyone who has heard
them may freely choose to use that particular noun.
The final group before the headlining Shonen Knife was by far the most worthwhile.
The Vacation's set was made highly entertaining by their lead singer, Mick
Jagger. Ok, I’m making that part up. But, the Vacation’s lead singer
was channeling his spirit. Long hair, an open shirt and a most particular strut
made it obvious who the guy’s role model is.
His presence met no love from the audience. One person shouted “turn
down the bass.” This was followed by a call to “turn down everything.”
It’s always entertaining to watch a singer talk trash to an audience
member, so I was in hysterics when “Mick” hopped off the stage,
walked along a railing and ended up on one guy’s table, dedicating his
next song to “that s***bag in the audience.”
Such stage presence, though it broke up a very slow evening, upstaged Shonen
Knife. “Mick's” antics had me hoping Shonen Knife would finally
kick it up a notch.
The only thing the ladies have going for them is heavily accented English.
Anime fans rejoice, music lovers moan. Their first two songs were identical.
To this very instant, I’m still debating whether I missed a really long
pause within one song, or Shonen Knife simply wrote two sets of lyrics.
The Galaxy is a beautiful venue that serves pricey drinks and terrible martinis.
They will be bringing names such as Kottonmouth Kings, Powerman 5000, David
Allan Coe and Lil’ Romeo to Santa Ana this year. With such notables coming
across their stage, it’s an unfortunate surprise that they managed to
produce such a stinking heap of mediocre rock this past Friday. |
